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Picking up the Pieces After the Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma

Days after an EF5 tornado with peak winds estimated at 210 mph (340 kph), struck Moore, Oklahoma, killing 24 people, including 10 children, residents returned to what was left of their homes to salvage what they could. The tornado was the strongest in the United States in nearly two years, damaging or destroying 1,200 homes and affecting 33,000 people. Collected here are images of Moore residents, helped by their families, friends and community members, as they begin the process of picking up the pieces of their lives.

Lightning from a thunderstorm strikes amid the wreckage of twisted cars and structures at Plaza Elementary School, where seven children were killed earlier in the week when a tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, on May 23, 2013.#

David Lee Estep sits atop a rubble pile that was once a home he shared with his parents and waits for word about his parent's welfare in Moore, on on May 23, 2013. Estep had not heard from his parents since their home collapsed on the three of them after it was hit by a tornado. Shortly after this picture was taken aid workers arrived to tell him his parents were well and they were looking for him.#

A man yells at the media asking them to leave after attending a memorial service for nine-year-old Antonia Candelaria at Vondel Smith Mortuary South Colonial Chapel on May 23, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Candelaria was a student at Plaza Towers Elementary School and was in class when a powerful tornado tore through the town.#

Seven crosses sit along the curb in front of what was once the home of Scott and Julie Lewis before it was destroyed by a tornado on May 23, 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma. The crosses were placed in memory of the seven children from Plaza Towers Elementary School who lost their lives in the tornado. As the tornado approached, Scott Lewis drove to the school and picked up his son Zack, who attended 3rd grade at Plaza Towers, and brought him to their storm shelter. Most of the children who died at the school were classmates of Zack.#

Jayme Sheppard carries her daughter Hope, who was enrolled in kindergarten at the storm-damaged Plaza Towers elementary school, on her shoulders as she departs a ceremonial last day of the school year at the Eastlake Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on May 23, 2013.#

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